The first direct flight from Kiev to Tehran landed at Imam Khomeini International Airport on June 4.
On the way home, the plane transferred a group of heads of travel agencies and culture and tourism activists from Iran to Ukraine where they visited some hotels of the country, Kiev Airport and Ukrainian Aviation Central Bureau.
The Iranian representatives met with caretaker of Iranian embassy in Ukraine and discussed further use of the new air line for boosting tourism industry between the two sides.
During the meeting, Representative of Ukrainian Aviation in Iran Massoud Tarasoli called Iran-Ukraine relations in all spheres "very good", and said, "Now it is time to pave the way for exchange of tourists between the two countries."
He added over 50 travel agencies in Ukraine have been volunteered for taking part in the official ceremony of launching the direct line in Iran.
He also noted that Iran is also ready to run flight lines between other Iranian cities and Kiev.
Iran has been seeking to bolster ties with Eastern Europe, specially Ukraine, in all the different industrial, political, economic and cultural spheres in the last few years.
After purchasing the production license for the Antonov-140 from Ukraine in 2000, Iran built its first Iran-140 passenger plane in 2003.
The first IRAN-140 aircraft was introduced by Iran in 2003. Five domestically-manufactured IRAN-140 planes were completed in October 2008 to increase the country's transportation capacity and upgrade the Iranian passenger fleet.
